PUBLIC LAW 109–121—DEC. 1, 2005 119 STAT. 2533

Public Law 109–121

109th Congress

An Act

To make access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a specific

policy objective of the United States foreign assistance programs, and for other

purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senator Paul Simon Water

for the Poor Act of 2005’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Water-related diseases are a human tragedy, killing

up to five million people annually, preventing millions of people

from leading healthy lives, and undermining development

efforts.

(2) A child dies an average of every 15 seconds because

of lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

(3) In the poorest countries in the world, one out of five

children dies from a preventable, water-related disease.

(4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are directly responsible for

the vast majority of diarrheal diseases which kill over two

million children each year.

(5) At any given time, half of all people in the developing

world are suffering from one or more of the main diseases

associated with inadequate provision of water supply and sanitation services.

(6) Over 1.1 billion people, one in every six people in

the world, lack access to safe drinking water.

(7) Nearly 2.6 billion people, two in every five people in

the world, lack access to basic sanitation services.

(8) Half of all schools in the world do not have access

to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

(9) Over the past 20 years, two billion people have gained

access to safe drinking water and 600 million people have

gained access to basic sanitation services.

(10) Access to safe water and sanitation and improved

hygiene are significant factors in controlling the spread of disease in the developing world and positively affecting worker

productivity and economic development.

(11) Increasing access to safe water and sanitation

advances efforts toward other development objectives, such as

fighting poverty and hunger, promoting primary education and

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Senator Paul

Simon Water

for the Poor

Act of 2005.

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Dec. 1, 2005

[H.R. 1973]

119 STAT. 2534 PUBLIC LAW 109–121—DEC. 1, 2005

gender equality, reducing child mortality, promoting environmental stability, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and

strengthening national security.

(12) Providing safe supplies of water and sanitation and

hygiene improvements would save millions of lives by reducing

the prevalence of water-borne diseases, water-based diseases,

water-privation diseases, and water-related vector diseases.

(13) Because women and girls in developing countries are

often the carriers of water, lack of access to safe water and

sanitation disproportionately affects women and limits women’s

opportunities at education, livelihood, and financial independence.

(14) Between 20 percent and 50 percent of existing water

systems in developing countries are not operating or are operating poorly.

(15) In developing world water delivery systems, an average

of 50 percent of all water is lost before it gets to the enduser.

(16) Every $1 invested in safe water and sanitation would

yield an economic return of between $3 and $34, depending

on the region.

(17) Developing sustainable financing mechanisms, such

as pooling mechanisms and revolving funds, is necessary for

the long-term viability of improved water and sanitation services.

(18) The annual level of investment needed to meet the

water and sanitation needs of developing countries far exceeds

the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and

spending by governments of developing countries, so facilitating

and attracting greater public and private investment is essential.

(19) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of the lowestincome developing countries will require an increase in the

resources available as grants from donor countries.

(20) The long-term sustainability of improved water and

sanitation services can be advanced by promoting community

level action and engagement with civil society.

(21) Target 10 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the proportion of people without

sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.

(22) The participants in the 2002 World Summit on

Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa,

including the United States, agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development which

included an agreement to work to reduce by one-half ‘‘the

proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe

drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of people without access

to basic sanitation’’ by 2015.

(23) At the World Summit on Sustainable Development,

the United States announced the Water for the Poor Initiative,

committing $970 million for fiscal years 2003 through 2005

to improve sustainable management of fresh water resources

and accelerate and expand international efforts to achieve the

goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people who

are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.

(24) United Nations General Assembly Resolution 58/217

(February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the period from 2005 to 2015

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the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World Water Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose

of increasing the focus of the international community on waterrelated issues at all levels and on the implementation of waterrelated programs and projects.

(25) Around the world, 263 river basins are shared by

two or more countries, and many more basins and watersheds

cross political or ethnic boundaries.

(26) Water scarcity can contribute to insecurity and conflict

on subnational, national, and international levels, thus endangering the national security of the United States.

(27) Opportunities to manage water problems can be leveraged in ways to build confidence, trust, and peace between

parties in conflict.

(28) Cooperative water management can help resolve conflicts caused by other problems and is often a crucial component

in resolving such conflicts.

(29) Cooperative water management can help countries

recover from conflict and, by promoting dialogue and cooperation among former parties in conflict, can help prevent the

reemergence of conflict.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

It is the policy of the United States—

(1) to increase the percentage of water and sanitation

assistance targeted toward countries designated as high priority

countries under section 6(f) of this Act;

(2) to ensure that water and sanitation assistance reflect

an appropriate balance of grants, loans, contracts, investment

insurance, loan guarantees, and other assistance to further

ensure affordability and equity in the provision of access to

safe water and sanitation for the very poor;

(3) to ensure that the targeting of water and sanitation

assistance reflect an appropriate balance between urban,

periurban, and rural areas to meet the purposes of assistance

described in section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,

as added by section 5(a) of this Act;

(4) to ensure that forms of water and sanitation assistance

provided reflect the level of existing resources and markets

for investment in water and sanitation within recipient countries;

(5) to ensure that water and sanitation assistance, to the

extent possible, supports the poverty reduction strategies of

recipient countries and, when appropriate, encourages the

inclusion of water and sanitation within such poverty reduction

strategies;

(6) to promote country and local ownership of safe water

and sanitation programs, to the extent appropriate;

(7) to promote community-based approaches in the provision of affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation, including the involvement of civil society;

(8) to mobilize and leverage the financial and technical

capacity of businesses, governments, nongovernmental

organizations, and civil society in the form of public-private

alliances;

(9) to encourage reforms and increase the capacity of foreign governments to formulate and implement policies that

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119 STAT. 2536 PUBLIC LAW 109–121—DEC. 1, 2005

expand access to safe water and sanitation in an affordable,

equitable, and sustainable manner, including integrated strategic planning; and

(10) to protect the supply and availability of safe water

through sound environmental management, including preventing the destruction and degradation of ecosystems and

watersheds.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) in order to make the most effective use of amounts

of Official Development Assistance for water and sanitation

and avoid waste and duplication, the United States should

seek to establish innovative international coordination mechanisms based on best practices in other development sectors;

and

(2) the United States should greatly increase the amount

of Official Development Assistance made available to carry

out section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added

by section 5(a) of this Act.

SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance

Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by adding at

the end the following new section:

‘‘SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.

‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance authorized by this

section are—

‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic development, poverty

reduction, women’s empowerment, conflict prevention, and

environmental sustainability by providing assistance to expand

access to safe water and sanitation, promoting integrated water

resource management, and improving hygiene for people around

the world;

‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the baseline year

1990 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or

afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people without

access to basic sanitation by 2015;

‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance toward the

countries, locales, and people with the greatest need;

‘‘(4) to promote affordability and equity in the provision

of access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor, women,

and other vulnerable populations;

‘‘(5) to improve water efficiency through water demand

management and reduction of unaccounted-for water;

‘‘(6) to promote long-term sustainability in the affordable

and equitable provision of access to safe water and sanitation

through the creation of innovative financing mechanisms such

as national revolving funds, and by strengthening the capacity

of recipient governments and communities to formulate and

implement policies that expand access to safe water and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including integrated planning;

‘‘(7) to secure the greatest amount of resources possible,

encourage private investment in water and sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in lower middle-income

countries, without creating unsustainable debt for low-income

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countries or unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the

very poor; and

‘‘(8) to promote the capacity of recipient governments to

provide affordable, equitable, and sustainable access to safe

water and sanitation.

‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of subsection

(a), the President is authorized to furnish assistance for programs

in developing countries to provide affordable and equitable access

to safe water and sanitation.

‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be used to—

‘‘(1) expand affordable and equitable access to safe water

and sanitation for underserved populations;

‘‘(2) support the design, construction, maintenance, upkeep,

repair, and operation of water delivery and sanitation systems;

‘‘(3) improve the safety and reliability of water supplies,

including environmental management; and

‘‘(4) improve the capacity of recipient governments and

local communities, including capacity-building programs for

improved water resource management.

‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use payments made

in local currencies under an agreement made under title I of the

Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7

U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to provide assistance under this section.’’.

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C.

1704(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

‘‘(9) SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.—To provide assistance

under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to

promote good health, economic development, poverty reduction,

women’s empowerment, conflict prevention, and environmental

sustainability by increasing affordable and equitable access

to safe water and sanitation.’’.

SEC. 6. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY.

(a) STRATEGY.—The President, acting through the Secretary

of State, shall develop a strategy to further the United States

foreign assistance objective to provide affordable and equitable

access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries, as

described in section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,

as added by section 5(a) of this Act.

(b) CONSULTATION.—The strategy required by subsection (a)

shall be developed in consultation with the Administrator of the

United States Agency for International Development, the heads

of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, international organizations, international financial institutions, recipient

governments, United States and international nongovernmental

organizations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate entities.

(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State, acting through

the Administrator of the United States Agency for International

Development, shall implement the strategy required by subsection

(a). The strategy may also be implemented in part by other Federal

departments and agencies, as appropriate.

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119 STAT. 2538 PUBLIC LAW 109–121—DEC. 1, 2005

(d) CONSISTENT WITH SAFE WATER AND SANITATION POLICY.—

The strategy required by subsection (a) shall be consistent with

the policy stated in section 3 of this Act.

(e) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection (a) shall

include—

(1) an assessment of the activities that have been carried

out, or that are planned to be carried out, by all appropriate

Federal departments and agencies to improve affordable and

equitable access to safe water and sanitation in all countries

that receive assistance from the United States;

(2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, and timetables to achieve the objective described in subsection (a);

(3) an assessment of the level of funding and other assistance for United States water and sanitation programs needed

each year to achieve the goals, benchmarks, and timetables

described in paragraph (2);

(4) methods to coordinate and integrate United States

water and sanitation assistance programs with other United

States development assistance programs to achieve the objective

described in subsection (a);

(5) methods to better coordinate United States water and

sanitation assistance programs with programs of other donor

countries and entities to achieve the objective described in

subsection (a); and

(6) an assessment of the commitment of governments of

countries that receive assistance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this

Act, to policies or policy reforms that support affordable and

equitable access by the people of such countries to safe water

and sanitation.

(f) DESIGNATION OF HIGH PRIORITY COUNTRIES.—The strategy

required by subsection (a) shall further include the designation

of high priority countries for assistance under section 135 of the

Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this

Act. This designation shall be made on the basis of—

(1) countries in which the need for increased access to

safe water and sanitation is greatest; and

(2) countries in which assistance under such section can

be expected to make the greatest difference in promoting good

health, economic development, poverty reduction, women’s

empowerment, conflict prevention, and environmental sustainability.

(g) REPORTS.—

(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the

date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall

submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report

that describes the strategy required by subsection (a).

(2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once every year after

the submission of the initial report under paragraph (1)

until 2015, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the status

of the implementation of the strategy, progress made in

achieving the objective described in subsection (a), and

any changes to the strategy since the date of the submission

of the last report.

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(B) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Such reports shall

include information on the amount of funds expended in

each country or program, disaggregated by purpose of

assistance, including information on capital investments,

and the source of such funds by account.

(3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate

congressional committees’’ means—

(A) the Committee on International Relations and the

Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and

(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.

SEC. 7. MONITORING REQUIREMENT.

The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United

States Agency for International Development shall monitor the

implementation of assistance under section 135 of the Foreign

Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act, to

ensure that the assistance is reaching its intended targets and

meeting the intended purposes of assistance.

SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL

CAPACITY.

It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should

expand current programs and develop new programs, as necessary,

to train local water and sanitation managers and other officials

of countries that receive assistance under section 135 of the Foreign

Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act.

SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADDITIONAL WATER AND

SANITATION PROGRAMS.

It is the sense of the Congress that—

(1) the United States should further support, as appropriate, water and sanitation activities of United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and

(2) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct each

United States Executive Director at the multilateral development banks (within the meaning of section 1701(c) of the International Financial Institutions Act) to encourage the inclusion

of water and sanitation programs as a critical element of their

development assistance.

SEC. 10. REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SECURITY.

(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that

United States programs to support and encourage efforts around

the world to develop river basin, aquifer, and other watershedwide mechanisms for governance and cooperation are critical components of long-term United States national security and should be

expanded.

(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of State, in consultation with the

Administrator of the United States Agency for International

Development, shall submit to the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign

Relations of the Senate a report on efforts that the United States

is making to support and promote programs that develop river

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119 STAT. 2540 PUBLIC LAW 109–121—DEC. 1, 2005

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 1973:

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 109–260 (Comm. on International Relations).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 151 (2005):

Nov. 7, considered and passed House.

Nov. 16, considered and passed Senate.

Æ

basin, aquifer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance and cooperation.

SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated for

fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal year such sums as

may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made

by this Act.

(b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pursuant to the

authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) shall be in addition

to the amounts otherwise available to carry out this Act and the

amendments made by this Act.

(c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant to the

authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized

to remain available until expended.

Approved December 1, 2005.

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